206: The Power of a Press Kit

See the show notes for this Episode here.

This transcript has been automatically generated.

Bonnie Christine:
Hey there and welcome back to the Professional Creative. I'm so excited you're here today. I want to share a story about something really small that turned out to have a huge impact for us, especially as we were exhibiting at the most recent licensing trade show, and that is our press kit. We almost didn't prioritize it. We almost didn't even have it. We were so focused on kind of the bigger things, our booth, our product displays, my physical portfolio, that I really nearly almost overlooked this detail. But I wanted something that was almost like a small version of a portfolio, just something that was quick at a glance of who I was and what it was that we were there to promote. Well, it quickly became one of the most powerful tools that we brought to the entire expo.

Bonnie Christine:
And so in this episode, I want to take you behind the scenes of how I designed it, how it opened doors, and how you can create one that will also tell your story and build meaningful connection as well. This press kit is something that you would be able to develop in order to put on your website, to attach in emails or to hand out in person, like we did at the trade show. So I think it's one of the most powerful things to have in your tool belt when you're talking about collaborating or working with someone on advertising or potentially licensing opportunities or product development, any number of things.

Bonnie Christine:
I'm Bonnie Christine.

Bonnie Christine:
And this is where all things creativity.

Bonnie Christine:
Design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life.

Bonnie Christine:
But when I first set out to.

Bonnie Christine:
Become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Bonnie Christine:
So I want you to picture this. We are all packed into our hotel room. We're in the middle of Las Vegas and this is the day before we are allowed to go into the licensing expo to even set up our booth. So things were feeling a little chaotic. We had a bit of an assembly line going. There were six of us in my hotel room and we had these stations. We kind of laughed and said this was the world's longest and biggest craft party ever. Half of us were hole punching.

Bonnie Christine:
The other half of us were attaching metal brads to the back of these little press kits. Some of us were ironing. I was working on my portfolio on my website. The press kits in particular were time consuming. They were already folded and printed beautifully. But the very last page, I wanted to put a piece of paper. It was beautiful. It was seed paper in the back that was attached with these beautiful brass brads.

Bonnie Christine:
And so all of that had to be done on site. And at one point we thought, are these gonna be worth it? Are we gonna even hand these out? And oh, my goodness, they were. They were absolutely worth it. That small press kit sparked so many conversations. It caught the attention of everyone who laid eyes on it. And honestly, it opened doors that we hadn't even imagined. It wasn't grand or oversized, it was just a few pages, but it was thoughtful, it was incredibly clear, and it told our story in a concise way that nothing else did. By the way, this press kit and the entire outline is our deliverable for Pattern plus this week.

Bonnie Christine:
So if you're interested in getting your hands on it, you can come join us at bonniechristine.com/patternplus that's spelled out P A T T E R N P L U S. So going into the Expo, we spent months preparing. We were designing our booth, we were curating hundreds of fabric samples and wallpaper samples and gift wrap samples. I was preparing my portfolio, we were booking meetings. And truthfully, we thought that these big visible things would have had the biggest impact. And no doubt they did. But what people really asked for and what they held onto and what they brought back to their teams was a simple, elegant press kit.

Bonnie Christine:
It reminded us that clarity really connects a press kit that isn't huge, it's not overwhelming. It says more than a business card, but less than an entire portfolio. It just needs to clearly communicate who you are, what you create, and how you can work together. So you can think of your press kit as a bit of a bridge. It doesn't have to say everything, but it should say the right things clearly, beautifully, and most importantly, in your voice. It's your first impression in print or PDF, and it helps kind of guide the conversation, it will help guide the collaboration, and it's one of the most powerful tools that you can bring to any kind of creative conversation about working together. So we created two versions. A digital version housed right on my portfolio page, and a printed beautiful Version that's small enough to carry, strong enough to leave a lasting impression.

Bonnie Christine:
So this is why I think it worked. It wasn't just a pamphlet or a booklet. It had these really lovely tabbed pages for easy reference. I fell in love with actually a menu at a hotel that I stayed at years ago and I took a picture of it. It was about four or five pages long and every page on the front was shorter than the one on the back. So it felt like it easy to tab through. You can see what this looks like over at the show Notes for today's episode. And so that's what we did to mimic on my press kit.

Bonnie Christine:
We kind of tabbed these pages so that you could index on the edges to see exactly what part you wanted to go to. It was printed on this beautiful heavy paper and it was short and sweet. Personal touches like handwritten notes all over it and hand drawn arrows made it feel like me. So these art directors and people that I met with at the expo, the moment they saw it, they gasped. They loved it. Many of them took it back to their teams. They held it up to me on camera after we started having follow up meetings. And this very thing sparked so many follow up conversations.

Bonnie Christine:
The interesting thing I think is that that has not been true for my physical portfolio. I spent a lot of time kind of updating this big beautiful physical portfolio with fabric samples in it. And it turns out that it really didn't get touched or looked at. Now it was nice to have and I love that I have it now, but it didn't make the impact that I thought it would. And the press kit really stole the show. And so in hindsight, the press kit was way easier to design anyways. And I think that the full portfolio in a physical format felt too bulky, it felt too overwhelming to flip through from top to bottom. So I think in order to view an entire catalog, people really preferred to do it online.

Bonnie Christine:
They wanted a online catalog, which we also had, of course. And then the press kit really served as the take home. Do you ever look at beautiful patterns on fabric or gift wrap and think, could I create something like that? Imagine seeing your designs come to life in the same way. Well, now you can with Start simple, my free mini class series in fabric, gift wrap and wallpaper design. And yes, it's totally beginner friendly. No experience needed. Imagine taking a simple sketch or doodle and transforming it into a beautiful pattern ready to print and hold in your own hands. In these quick beginner friendly classes, I'll guide you step by Step through the essentials, doodling, turning your doodles into digital art, creating custom color palettes and creating your very first repeating pattern.

Bonnie Christine:
And the best part? You'll finish with a real product. I'll teach you how to export and upload to my favorite places to get your own custom fabric, gift wrap or wallpaper in your hands. It's amazing to see your vision brought to life in this way. Whether you're looking to play or explore, or maybe even kickstart a whole new side hustle Start simple is the perfect way to get. Plus, it's absolutely free. Go sign up at bonniechristine.com/startsimple I can't wait to see what you make. This is the perfect, no pressure, joyful way to explore your creativity. Sign up today at bonniechristine.com/startsimple and let's make something beautiful together.

Bonnie Christine:
So here's what's inside. The first page was Meet Bonnie. I started with my story. The first line was 16 years ago. I stood in my mom's quilt shop surrounded by bolts of fabric. Now I didn't go too far in depth of my story. It was like one page and it was broken into about a column and a half but it explained why I do what I do. It had handwritten phrases on it like forever inspired by nature.

Bonnie Christine:
And the photos were casual but of me in the garden and of me creating artwork. And then it also included my notable press features so right away they could get an understanding of the gravity of what it is that we do. The next page was titled the Stats that Matter. This is all about our audience, who our ica, that's our ideal client. Avatar is what they look for when they look to work with brands. And then I included stats like how many people are on our email list, how many students have come through our programs, how many years have I been in business. And again I did these call outs in handwritten script kind of all over this Stats that Matter page so that it felt really approachable because I think numbers can feel, I don't know, very static, very cold. So I wanted to warm it up and help it feel approachable.

Bonnie Christine:
The third page was Ways to Work with Us. This was basically a guide to the different kinds of ways that we can collaborate. We have a lot of them, everything from licensing to partnerships to media to conference sponsorships to podcast ads and the list goes on and on. So we wanted to create a really easy to glance at collaboration guide to how it is we can work together again. Lots of hand drawn elements to make this feel Personal and my favorite quote, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. The next page was of selected work. This was a full page spread with about 12 patterns on each page. Now this wasn't a collection, it was just curated work that represents my favorite work, my best work, the type of work that I want to be known for and do more of.

Bonnie Christine:
And then of course I invited them to go to my full catalog where all of my work was categorized by collections, but it was online so this was just a quick at a glance look at the type of work that I do. And then finally the last page was how to keep in touch. I recapped our mission that art has the power to change lives. I would love to work with them on doing that together. I had a personal thank you note and my personal signature as well as QR codes to go visit my portfolio website and have more information about Flowerie, our shop and our wholesale opportunities there. So if this has inspired you. I created this entire press kit in a day. I built it in Adobe Illustrator, I saved it out as a PDF and then of course we took ours to print because I was going to be in a situation where I could hand them out.

Bonnie Christine:
But you can also do this in PDF form to start attaching to your outreach emails or to put on your about page or your portfolio page. So here's a really simple structure that you can follow. Make sure to introduce yourself, share your story, make it really compelling, make it almost like a hook. Why do you do what you do and why do you love doing it? What values really guide your work? Then you're going to share your stats. Share those stats that help you with your credibility, things about your audience, your existing partnerships, any existing press, the reach that you have. Then your collaboration options. What types of projects or partnerships are you looking for? Don't forget your contact info. Make it super easy for them to get in touch with you to find you.

Bonnie Christine:
Make it a QR code, give them your email address and then I would always include some of your favorite work. This work should be not everything. It's a highly curated collection of your favorite work, your best work, the type of work that represents the of type, the work that you want to do more of. You can start small as well, even though mine was five or six pages long. You can also do this in a one page PDF. Make it impactful. A one page PDF At a glance, the stats that matter, who you are and why someone would be interested in working with you can be really, really impactful. So I want to challenge you.

Bonnie Christine:
Don't overthink this. Get it in what I call black and white format, so that's like a Google Doc format. And then take it to design and have fun with it. I think it's easy to think that if I want to make this big splash, I have to go big, which is what I did with my physical portfolio. I was like, I need this big, beautiful, you know, display of my work. And what I discovered is that sometimes the smallest tools hold the most power. It feels easy to wrap your mind around, easy to see at a glance how we can be most impactful together. And I think that thoughtfulness is louder than scale and simplicity really tells a clearer story and shows what you're capable of.

Bonnie Christine:
So this press kit, small addition to our strategy, turned out making a huge lasting impression. It opened so many doors and it's something that we will continue to update and keep with us at all times. Now, your press kit doesn't have to be grand. Mine wasn't grand. I think it is more powerful when it's simple, it's story driven and it's clear. So ask yourself, what do I want someone to know at a first glance edition of who you are and how can you show who you are and how you can work together simply, cleanly, clearly. So I mentioned this earlier, but what I want you to know is that we've made a really robust outline for what this looks like and how to build your own press kit for members of Pattern plus, that's our monthly membership for surface pattern designers and illustrators. If you're interested, we would love to have you.

Bonnie Christine:
You can learn more at bonniechristine.com/PatternPlus we'd love to see you there. Thank you for joining me and spending this time with me. I'll see you back here next Thursday. Until then, create the beauty that you want to see. Come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for you. Bye for now.